Lowry awaits Covid-19 clarity before committing to Irish Open
Shane Lowry plays his tee shot on the 17th hole during the second round at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif. on Friday, June 14, 2019. (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)
Shane Lowry is desperate to tee it up in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open next month but his participation is far from certain due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Co Offaly star (33) admitted after squeaking into this week’s first FedEx Cup Playoff event that he will take a watching brief for the next few weeks before making a decision on whether or not he will play at Galgorm Castle from September 24-27.
He was always planning to come home the week after the US Open from September 17-20 but with the Irish Open now occupying that week, Lowry will have to fly to the UK rather than Dublin, if he wants to avoid a 14 days of restricted movement on arrival and play in Ballymena.
“That's my plan, yeah, but we'll see what happens,” the Open champion said after finishing tied 23rd in the Wyndham Championship to move to 122nd in the FedEx Cup race and make the top 125 who qualified for this week’s Northern Trust at TPC Boston.
“Look, we'll see how it is. There's been quite a few cases over the last few days in Ireland. So, look, I don't want to make any decisions. What is it, six weeks out? I'll make them over the next couple weeks.
“I’ve never been [to Galgorm Castle]. I've heard it's nice, heard it's a lovely hotel and good golf course We'll be in the European Tour bubble, that's a bit tighter than this one over here, so yeah.”
Lowry and his management team are actively seeking precise health and travel advice from the authorities, so they know exactly what protocols must be followed in terms of self-isolation and testing if he enters the European Tour’s bubble in Ballymena and then heads home to Dublin.
He won’t have seen his wife or daughter in 10 weeks when he flies back to Europe after the US Open at Winged Foot and with his schedule for the rest of the season uncertain, getting time at home is key.
The European Tour announced yesterday that it was bringing forward the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open (Oct. 1-4) and the BMW PGA Championship (Oct. 8-11) by a week as it continues its strategy of staging consecutive tournaments in geographical clusters.
The compressing of the schedule means Lowry may have to miss Wentworth if he wants to spend time with his family after the Irish Open.
He’s also keen to continue his PGA Tour campaign but there is no confirmation yet that the CJ Cup in South Korea, the ZOZO Championship in Japan and the WGC HSBC Champions in Shanghai will all go ahead in consecutive weeks from October 15.
Right now, Lowry is keen to extend his participation in the FedEx Cup and knows that he will have to perform well in Boston to make the top 70 who progress to the second playoff event, the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Chicago next week.
Trailing the 70th ranked played by 191 points, Lowry will need a high top-10 finish to survive.
“Obviously the goal next week would be to make Chicago,” said Lowry whose share of sixth in the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational in Memphis three weeks ago is his lone top 10 on the PGA Tour since The Open.
“Then the goal from there is to make it to East Lake, but that would be a hell of a three weeks. I need to do something very special. But I feel like I'm playing good golf.”
His 63 on Friday put him right in contention and he put his average weekend rounds of 70 and 69 down the FedEx Cup talk and poor driving.
“To be honest, I feel like all that outside stuff got in my way a little bit over this weekend,” he said. “I felt like I was in a great position heading into the weekend, I just struggled yesterday. Then today I got off to a great start and it was going lovely. Then the last few holes, it was almost like, you know, you're playing on the cut mark. It was strange.”
On his hit and miss form, he said in Greensboro: “I played lovely in Memphis and then I went to the PGA, sort of a little bit of expectation on me. I started off lovely for 27 holes, I think I was four-under and I was flying. Then I just kind of let it slip away.
“I didn't drive the ball that well over the weekend and it kind of stayed with me this week. I've been able to hit a lot of three-woods and five-woods off the tees here, which has helped, but if I'm going to try and compete in the next few events, I need to start driving the ball a little bit better than I have been.”
The European Tour remains at the Celtic Manor Resort for this week’s ISPS HANDA Wales Open with Cormac Sharvin, Jonny Caldwell, Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan in the field.
The LPGA Tour moves to Royal Troon for the AIG Women’s Open with Leona Maguire and amateur Olivia Mehaffey arriving there to join Stephanie Meadow with good memories of past glories.
Maguire was the youngest winner of the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Strokeplay there in 2009 while Mehaffey triumphed there in 2015.
"I love Royal Troon, it’s such a great golf course and I have a lot of great memories there,” Mehaffey told the ILGU website. “It’s definitely nice to go somewhere you feel familiar and comfortable with the surroundings.”
Maguire also has fond memories of the venue and after finishing tied 18th in her return to tour golf for the first time since February in last week’s Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club, she has high hopes for what looks like a challenge week in difficult conditions.
“I played solid all week and pleased with how I scored better every day, which gives me good momentum heading into next week,” Leona said. “It was a tough course to start back on but really happy with how patient I stayed and hit some really good quality shots especially today.”
